Post #3650912
2026-07-06 10:53 UTC
A very cool, useful discussion of the question of violence or 'war' in prehistory, concluding, for nomadic HG ancestors, not anything like war, yes, some interpersonal violence.
But it probably goes further than that -- doing violence likely did not help the perpetrator's fitness, no selection pressures or incentive. In fact, the opposite, until there were resources and assets to monopolize and compete for.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00223433221090112?
Replies (1)
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@RadicalAnthro@c.im 2026-07-06 10:57
This summary discussion mainly focuses on history, 'war' being defined as between two 'states', which doesn't count in nomadic HG ancestors. So basically the vast majority of Homo sapiens species lifespan has been war-free. It's really recent. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/has-there-ever-been-a-period-in-human-history-without-war